We are a body, part 1

April 9, 2013

We have to start challenging each other more as believers and the body of Christ.

Every day there is a story about someone who is suing for millions of dollars because they were offended in some way. “Gay white guy wins $1.2 million in race lawsuit,” “Former Medina police chief wins $2 million discrimination lawsuit,” “Man too terrified of frogs to leave his house wins $1.6M lawsuit.” These are legitimate headlines from a quick Google News search for “wins lawsuit for millions.” We have been inundated with these stories and “political correctness” to the point that we live with a fear of offending someone. But I would also be bold enough to propose that we live our lives seeking to be offended. Whether we have done it knowingly or not, we have decided that we are more valuable than our neighbor. Don’t believe me? We are daily up in arms about someone who cut us off in traffic, didn’t show up on time, broke in line, or spoke to us with a mean tone. WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? No… That question is not directed at the person that just offended you… It’s directed at YOU and ME. How do you find yourself to be of such great value that you can justify looking down on someone else?

We as the church MUST humble ourselves before our neighbors… and our brothers and sisters in Christ! Paul says, “The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated? Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers and sisters” (1 Cor 6:7-8). I see Paul as saying, “Look at yourselves! Quit it! What are you thinking?” We must wash ourselves of the worldly mindset we have taken on!

If I walked up to you and pointed out your sin, would you thank me? Or would you ask me who I was to judge you like that? Brothers and sisters! We must open our eyes to the depravity and severity of sin! We have offended a HOLY and RIGHTEOUS GOD who does not look upon our sin lightly! We have come to the point where we have trapped ourselves as believers. “I don’t want to point out his sin, because he might be offended.” Why do you think he would be offended? Is it because WE would be offended? Brothers and sisters! Whether it is you rebuking or you being rebuked, consider the severity of our sin! In that light, we must reconsider our position on both sides of rebuke. Someone has a word of rebuke for you? Accept it with open arms! Hopefully it will cut like a sword into your soul, but what a minimum price to pay to be made aware of your sin! Would you rather walk along blindly, unaware of your sin? Or would you rather be made aware of it so you can repent and turn to the LORD for redemption from that sin? If you have ever been rebuked, you know the beauty of the entire process. Hopefully, you are able to look back on rebuke with thanksgiving that someone would care enough about you to point out your sin! Welcome rebuke and exhortation!

On the other hand, brothers and sisters, how dare we not point out another believer’s sin? If we walk alongside another believer, continually blinding ourselves to their sin, then we stand in full acceptance of their sin. We have minimized sin’s severity and thus minimized God’s holiness. “Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted” (Galatians 6:1). Of course we have to properly rebuke our fellow believer in love, but we must still rebuke! We cannot sit idly by as our brother or sister walks along with a poisonous snake crawling up their leg! JESUS said, “If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you” (Matt 18:15). Would you not want someone to point out YOUR sin (As I discussed above, this is more than likely the root of our problem.)? There is too much at stake for us to continue to minimize sin in our lives and our brothers’ and sisters’ lives!!!

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words too big

April 2, 2013

I wrote this many, many, many years ago and just found it on my computer…

Something I believe has been lost somewhere in time is the power and utter meaning of words, or even one word. C.S. Lewis sums up my thotoo big wordsughts:

“Don’t use words too big for the subject. Don’t say ‘infinitely’ when you mean ‘very’; otherwise you’ll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite.”

The word “love” is used in many more ways than any other word I can think of. For instance, a boy and a girl in middle school have some sense of love and care and they say, “I love you.” Two teenagers in high school have a better understanding of dating relationships and they say, “I love you” and probably mean it in some way. A guy and girl in college have been through relationships in the past and know what they are really looking for in a relationship. They say, “I love you.” A man and woman marry and live an example of Christ’s love for the church. The “the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one.” The man tells his wife he loves her. But what is the difference between his word “love” and the 7th grader’s infatuation? Looking in from the outside, there should be clearly be a separate word that this man should use to tell his wife how he feels. Or should the word only be used to describe true love?

You go see a movie and when later asked your opinion, you reply, “It was awesome!” At church on Sunday you sing about an Awesome God. Again looking in, these obviously should be separate words. This movie has no comparison to Christ, yet the same exact word is used to describe both.

It’s about lunch time and you are ready to grab a bite to eat. The conversation most likely starts with “I’m hungry” or “I’m starving.” Some child in a third world country has not had a bite to eat in “forever,” and they are hungry and starving.

“It’s been forever since I’ve seen that show.” “I’ll spend forever in Heaven.” Our use of the word forever to describe a period of a month to years turns the word into a finite period of time.

“I hate bugs.” The Lord hates sin. I would rather not have bugs and could live without bugs, but they are not a direct offense to who I am. God hates sin. I hate bugs. God’s passion is lessened due to my expression of how much I dislike bugs.

So consider C.S. Lewis’s words… and take your words into consideration.

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oh, heavenly days.

April 1, 2013

Heaven.
A place where we can sing of God’s love forever! Oh to get my wings and float in God’s presence for eternity!

This is how I thought of Heaven. An eternal choir practice. I honestly was not looking forward to or seeking Heaven. “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above…” (Col 3:1) I knew that for it to be God’s presence, it couldn’t be bad, but I was not desiring or seeking it. The idea of singing forever gave me no joy. And now I am aware of how much joy I was depriving myself. Tom and Jerry need no longer define our image of Heaven! So, erase your image of Heaven (unless you have a Biblical image in your head!). (Most of the following points are from David Platt’s latest Secret Church entitled “Heaven, Hell, and the End of the World.” Take six hours and watch it!)

“One of the greatest things about Heaven is that we’ll no longer have to battle our desires. They’ll always be pure, attending to their proper objects. We’ll enjoy food without gluttony and eating disorders. We’ll express admiration and affection without lust, fornication, or betrayal. Those simply won’t exist.”
Randy Alcorn

“If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.”
C.S. Lewis

I think of Adam and Eve in Eden. God created them and their surroundings and it was perfect (Gen 1:31). Perfect harmony between God and His creation (Gen 2:15). They were without sin and were able to do whatever their heart desired (Gen 2:16-17). God created them in His image, so God knew the desires of their heart (Gen 2:18). He was gracious to fulfill Adam’s desires by giving him the entire earth and all the creatures to rule over (Gen 1:28) and a woman to be his companion. Why would we believe that a perfect God that created US to live in this same harmony with Him wouldn’t fulfill all of our desires in Heaven? My desire to build and feel accomplished, your desire for affection and companionship… all of these desires are from God and have been corrupted by sin. So in Heaven, without the presence of sin and temptation (Rev 20:10), we will be able to follow our hearts because they will be pure and not corrupted by the sin we struggle with today (Rev 22:17, John 6:35). “Love God and do as you please” (Augustine). HOW BEAUTIFUL AND GLORIOUS A THOUGHT!

“They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” Revelation 7:16-17

We will be as priests in the temple (1 Kings 6:19-20), a bride with a husband (Rev 19:6-8), heirs of a King (Matt 25:34), and participants in a banquet (Rev 19:9)!

We will behold Him (Rev 22:4), worship Him (Rev 19:1-8), serve Him (Rev 7:15), be served by Him (Luke 12:37), reign with Him (Dan 7:27), and rest in Him (Rev 14:13)!

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Soggy turtle sandwiches

March 27, 2013

So one day, God created marriage. And it was a sandwich. It was a wonderful sandwich and God made it how He wanted to because He’s wise and He’s God and all that. So man comes along and wants God’s sandwich to be a turtle. Man really, really wants a turtle. So man looks at God’s sandwich and fights back and forth over whether it’s a sandwich or turtle. Man even goes so far as legislating that God’s sandwich is a turtle. Well clearly it’s still a sandwich, right? Well, no. Man said it’s a turtle now.  So God sees man take His sandwich and put it in a pond. And I believe God’s heart breaks. Not because His sandwich is soggy, but because God gave His sandwich to us and we decided it wasn’t good enough. And man WILL decide that they don’t want God’s soggy turtle sandwich anymore.  And man WILL move on to take another of God’s gifts and turn it into something they want and that He didn’t intend. History repeats itself.

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Marriage Inequality.

March 26, 2013

Marriage Equality…
God is love…
Intolerance and Bigotry…

My brain is about to explode.

This whole homosexuality issue centers around ONE thing. Sin. Either it is or it isn’t. You either believe homosexuality is not a sin or you believe it is. The Gospel is offensive. To accept the Gospel means that we accept that we are sinners.

Sin will be rationalized and the truth will be marginalized. It’s how Satan works. He’s shrewd. He always has and always will distort the truth. We can justify that anything is true and right if we feel it. Surely what I feel can’t be wrong. If truth ebbs and flows with societies feelings, then what is truth?

So how do we deal with people who are blatantly supporting sin? We love them. God loves homosexuals. Yes… He does. He also loves pornographers, murderers, alcoholics, prostitutes, thieves, and liars. He also judges them all. God is love and God is holy. A holy God can not dwell with anything unholy. God hates homosexuals, pornographers, murderers, alcoholics, prostitutes, thieves, and liars. But God looked at all of us, rolling around in our filth, and so strongly desired to reconcile us to Himself. He wanted to restore us to Himself so much, that He sent His Son, Jesus, to this filthy earth to take the wrath that we deserve for our sin.

We are not going to be able to convince people that homosexuality is wrong. It’s the same as trying to convince someone that they are a liar or an adulterer. To do that, there has to be a foundational understanding of God, who He is, and what He says. Therefore, we love. We love because we were murderers, adulterers, liars, and thieves. I know my past. I know the habitual sin that I lived in. We love, not because we accept everybody’s sin… we love because we accept that everybody is a sinner. We love people because we want them to know the eternal life that we have in Christ. We abhor sin. Sin is a direct offense in the face of a Holy, Righteous God. We celebrate grace and mercy from a Merciful God. My Jesus dined with the sinners. He invited them to come follow Him. Everybody’s welcome to follow Jesus. He desires that all would follow Him… the homosexuals, murderers, adulterers, and liars.

The United States Government has never been God’s government (it is His, but not His governing authority). How God governs is clearly laid out in Scripture. We are ambassadors in this world. This place is not our home. We are free from having to get so caught up in this world because we know that our God is sovereign. This world will continue to turn its face away from God. We MUST sacrificially spend our time, every chance we get and every chance we don’t get, speaking the name of Jesus and what He has done to redeem us. Instead of winning arguments on Facebook or Twitter, we need to be winning souls on the streets.

“The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated? Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers and sisters. Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” – 1 Corinthians 6:7-11

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despair

February 13, 2013

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.” -2 Corinthians 4:7-12

In my life, I have either been quick to praise God in the good times or quick to call on Him in the bad times, but never at the same time. I need to realize tough times will come and that they are times that should be celebrated and that God should be praised for those times. I’m able to look back on many tough times in my life and now realize that I wouldn’t be at the place I am if those tough times had not come. God has a purpose in all tough times and that purpose is that His life may be revealed in my mortal body. When I can’t see the end, resolution, or the victory to come, I need to realize that is when Christ is carrying me through. I should praise Him in those times because His sovereignty is not for me to question and my feeble, mortal mind would not even be able to comprehend His purpose for my troubles even if it was revealed to me.

When you can’t see the end, resolution, or the victory to come, celebrate. Celebrate Christ’s faithfulness and your weakness. And when you do come out victorious, do not forget that it was not by your power.

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be satisfied, husbands, part 2

February 9, 2013

“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— for we are members of his body.” Ephesians 5:25-30

Marriage is a covenant bond between a man, a woman, and God… a covenant bond between one selfish sinner, another selfish sinner, and a holy, righteous God.

God the Father sacrificed His Son for our redemption.  Christ cares for His church and selflessly gave His life for us.  We are members of Christ’s body.  Our wives are members of our body.  No one ever hated their own body.  In the way Christ cares for His body, we are commanded to care for ours.  He who loves his wife loves himself.  We must nourish our body, our wives, ourselves.  We are to love our wives, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word.  The Word.  We are called to live the Word, breathe the Word, speak the Word, wash our wives with the Word.  Like the flood of mercy and grace in which our Father sweeps us away, we should cover our wives in a flood of mercy and grace… the Word (John 1:1).  We must center ourselves in the Word to be able to know the Word.  The Word is Christ and Christ is the Word.  Our source of endless love, mercy, and grace for our wives can only come from the endless spring that is Christ (Psalm 23:5).  We will fail to love our wives when we try to provide mercy and grace from our own reserves.  We will empty ourselves.  As husbands, we cannot stand ankle deep in God’s mercy and grace.  We must walk toward the crashing waves.  We cannot touch the bottom.  We cannot turn back.  No final breath, no gasps for air.  Drown.  He is our breath and He will fill us.  Center yourself in the Word, in Christ, and then wash your wife in the Word.  Drown her in the Lord’s mercy and grace.

Sacrifice your wants, your needs, your desires, your dreams, your aspirations, your self… for your wife… but not for your wife’s sake.  The point is not to sacrifice yourself so you can focus on her wants, needs, desires, aspirations.  Sacrifice yourself so that you may be filled with Christ.  If you want to be the man your wife longs for, be Christ.  “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).  The only place two sinners can be satisfied with each other is in Christ.  Selfishness leads to broken marriages (James 3:16).  Self must not exist in marriage.  When we drown ourselves in Christ, we become patient, we become kind.  We won’t envy, boast, or be full of pride.  We will honor our wives.  We won’t be quick to anger.  We won’t hold a record of wrongs.  Husbands, rejoice in the truth and turn away now from all that is evil.

We are not called to spend our lives building sand castles, splashing on the beach.  Step into the deep.  Lose your footing and be swept away by Christ.

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be satisfied, part 1

February 9, 2013

This is my first post in a series of three that will briefly address a few thoughts I have gathered in my <2 years of marriage. I was given the following prose, typed in Courier, and it summarizes my thoughts that will come in the next two parts.

“Everyone longs to give themselves completely to someone — to have a deep soul relationship with another — to be loved thoroughly and exclusively. But God to a Christian says, “No, not until you are satisfied, fulfilled and content with being loved by Me alone — with giving yourself totally and unreservedly to Me — to having an intensely personal and unique relationship with Me alone, discovering that only in Me is your satisfaction to be found, will you be capable of the perfect human relationship that I have planned for you. You will never be united with another until you are united with me, exclusive of anyone or anything else, exclusive of any other desires or longings. I want you to stop planning, stop wishing, and allow Me to give you the most thrilling plan existing — one that you cannot imagine. I want you to have the best. Please allow me to bring it to you. You just keep watching Me, expecting the greatest things — keep experiencing the satisfaction that I am. Keep listening and learning the things I tell you. You just wait. That’s all.

Don’t be anxious. Don’t worry. Don’t look around at the things that others have gotten or that I’ve given them. Don’t look at the things you think you want. You just keep looking off and away up at Me, or you’ll miss what I want to show you.

And then when you’re ready, I’ll surprise you with a love far more wonderful than any you would dream of. You see, until you are ready and until the one I have for you is ready (I am working even this moment to have both of you ready at the same time), until you are both satisfied exclusively with Me and the life I prepared for you, you won’t be able to experience the love that exemplifies your relationship with Me, and is thus the perfect love.

And dear one, I want you to have this most wonderful love. I want you to see in the flesh a picture of your relationship with Me and to enjoy materially and concretely the everlasting union of beauty, perfection, and love that I offer you with Myself. Know that I love you utterly.”

1 Corinthians 1:10

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